Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens (ca. 160-ca. 222)

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullian, (ca. 160-ca. 222), the great Church Father of Carthage, the son of a captain, well educated, familiar with Greek, was converted to Christianity and defended its doctrines in numerous writings. His book De Baptismo (Concerning Baptism), in which he attacked infant baptism, is of especial interest to Mennonites. Very earnestly he insisted on faith as the unconditional requirement for a true baptism. This book shows that infant baptism was not yet a universal custom in the church of the second century. The Martyrs' Mirror has on its last page an address of encouragement written by Tertullian to the martyrs who were confined in prisons at the time of the heathen emperors. In 1522 Conrad Grebel procured and forwarded to Vadian a copy of the new edition of Tertullian (ed. by Beatus Rhenanus at Basel, 1521). It is probable that he read Tertullian, since he mentions him in the letter to Müntzer (1524). Menno Simons also read Tertullian. It is intriguing, but speculative to think that Tertullian's attack on infant baptism may have influenced the Anabaptists.

Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1139-41. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.